Man robs Medford's Bank of the Cascades

BY Mark Freeman...

A man robbed a North Medford bank and made off on foot Monday afternoon with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said.

The unidentified suspect was possibly wearing a false black beard shortly before 3 p.m. Monday when he walked into the Bank of the Cascades branch at 3100 Crater Lake Highway, according to the Medford Police Department.

No customers were in the bank when the man handed the female teller a note demanding cash, then left on foot when the teller complied, Medford police Lt. Justin Ivens said. No weapon was seen, Ivens said.

The man had walked up to the bank from the vicinity of the nearby Kaleidoscope Pizza restaurant and left the same way, Ivens said. The robber was not immediately linked to any vehicle, Ivens said.

The robber was described as a white male, age 32 to 40, about 6 feet tall, weighing about 160 pounds and with long, dark hair. He was last seen wearing a black, hooded sweatshirt, washed-out jeans and a faded baseball cap.

The robber also had a black beard, "but it could be a fake," Ivens said. "It could be a disguise. It's a pretty visible area here, so we're hoping someone saw something."

Police and an FBI agent responded to the branch and were looking for evidence as well as viewing surveillance video shortly after the robbery, Ivens said. There was no immediate indication that Monday's robbery was linked to other recent bank robberies in the area.

There were as many as four employees in the branch at the time of the robbery, Ivens said.

"It does have an effect on them," Ivens said. "There is a victim in this. It's not easy to go through."